Groin guard

ABSTRACT

A groin guard has a cushion cup and a rigid cover. The cushion cup has a concave surface, a convex surface, and a foam layer. The foam layer is a block integrally formed by a foaming material. The rigid cover is integrally combined with the convex surface of the cushion cup via an injection process. The groin guard is visually appealing and is enhanced in protection and wearing comfort.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to sports protective equipment, and more particularly to a groin guard for protecting the groin region of a human body.

2. Description of Related Art

The groin guard is worn on the groin region of a human body to protect the groin region from sports injuries. With reference to FIG. 8, a conventional groin guard 90 has a rigid housing 91 and a cushion border 93. The rigid housing 91 is a convex shell formed by a rigid plastic material via an injection molding process. The rigid plastic material can withstand impact force to protect the groin region from direct impacts and injuries. The cushion border 93 surrounds outer edges of the rigid housing 91, which may be an elastic plastic material formed around the edges of the rigid housing 91 via an overmolding process or a foaming material attached around the edges of the rigid housing 91. The cushion border 93 is soft and cushioning to reduce discomfort and skin chafing caused by the edges of the groin guard.

The groin guard 90 having the foaming material attached around the edges of the rigid housing 91 has softer edges to contact the skin of the human body, but the design of the groin guard is less attractive in its appearance. The groin guard 90 having the elastic plastic material formed around the edges of the rigid housing 91 may have an attractive appearance, but provides less comfort than the groin guard having foaming material. Moreover, a user may still feel discomfort when wearing the groin guard, because the main body of the conventional groin guard 90 is made of the rigid plastic housing.

To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention tends to provide a groin guard to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main objective of the invention is to provide a groin guard which is visually appealing and is enhanced in wearing comfort and protection.

The groin guard has a cushion cup and a rigid cover. The cushion cup has a concave surface, a convex surface, and a foam layer being a block integrally formed by a foaming material. The rigid cover is integrally combined with the convex surface of the cushion cup via an injection process. A hardness of the rigid cover is higher than a hardness of the cushion cup.

Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a groin guard in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the groin guard in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the groin guard in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional side view of the groin guard in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4A is an enlarged cross sectional side view of the groin guard in FIG. 4;

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional side view of a second embodiment of a groin guard in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional side view of a third embodiment of a groin guard in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6A is an enlarged cross sectional side view of the groin guard in FIG. 6;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a fourth embodiment of a groin guard in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a conventional groin guard.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

With reference to FIGS. 1 to 4, a first embodiment of a groin guard in accordance with the present invention has a cushion cup 10 and a rigid cover 20.

The cushion cup 10 has a concave surface 101, a convex surface 102, a foam layer 11, and a fabric layer 13. The foam layer 11 is in a block form, which is integrally formed from a foaming material via a pressure forming process, and has a concave inner surface and a convex outer surface. The foam layer 11 has two sides formed respectively as the concave surface 101 and the convex surface 102 of the cushion cup 10. The material of the foam layer 11 may be Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate Foam (EVA Foam), Polyurethane Foam (PU Foam), or other foaming materials. The foaming material is porous, soft, lightweight, cushioning, and vibration absorptive. Thus, the wearing comfort of the cushion cup 10 can be enhanced, and the cushion cup 10 can absorb impact force. The cushion cup 10 can improve wearing comfort, impact absorption, and protection by increasing the thickness of the foam layer 11. The fabric layer 13 covers both of the two sides of the foam layer 11 to protect the foam layer 11 from being scratched and to enhance the wearing comfort of the cushion cup 10.

The rigid cover 20 is integrally combined with the convex surface 102 of the cushion cup 10 via an injection molding process. The hardness of the rigid cover 20 is higher than the hardness of the cushion cup 10. The material of the rigid cover 20 can be selected from rigid plastic materials which have good abilities to withstand impact energy, such as polypropylen (PP), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polycarbonate (PC), fiber reinforced plastics (FRP), nylon, or thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) etc. The hardness of the rigid cover 20 may be Shore hardness 50D to 75D. After the cushion cup 10 is formed, the plastic material of the rigid cover 20 is injected and formed onto the convex surface 102 of the cushion cup 10 and is directly combined with the surface of the fabric layer 13 via an insert molding process. The rigid cover 20 becomes a shield on the cushion cup 10 against direct hitting by objects. With the injection process, the rigid cover 20 is directly combined with the convex surface 102 of the cushion cup 10. The cushion cup 10 and the rigid cover 20 can be designed and formed as a whole piece via mold design. The groin guard that is visually-appealing in appearance, is comfortable in use, and has a good protection effect can be produced.

The surface area of the rigid cover 20 is equal to or less than the surface area of the convex surface 102 of the cushion cup 10. The rigid cover 20 may be defined at a middle region of the cushion cup 10, which is a zone prone to objects hitting. The rigid cover 20 may have ribs formed in a partial region to increase structural strength of the partial region of the rigid cover 20. Preferably, the cushion cup 10 may have multiple embossed blocks 115 formed on the convex surface 102 at a region of the convex surface 102 that is not covered by the rigid cover 20. The embossed blocks 15 are arranged at spaced intervals, are directly formed by the foam layer 11 with the fabric layer 13 tightly covering the surface of the foam layer 11. The embossed blocks 15 can disperse the impact force and improve the appearance of the cushion cup 10. The cushion cup 10 and the rigid cover 20 can be designed to match each other in an integral appearance to be visually appealing to consumers.

With reference to FIG. 5, in the second embodiment of the groin guard in accordance with the present invention, the cushion cup 10A does not have a fabric layer covering the surfaces of the foam layer 11. The rigid cover 20 is directly combined with the surface of the foam layer 11 via an injection process. With reference to FIG. 6, in the third embodiment of the groin guard in accordance with the present invention, the cushion cup 10B has a fabric layer 13 covering one of the two sides of the foam layer 11. The fabric layer 13 may only cover the concave surface 101 of the cushion cup 10B to enhance the wearing comfort of the concave surface 101 in contact with the human body. With reference to FIG. 7, in the fourth embodiment of the groin guard in accordance with the present invention, the cushion cup 10C has the fabric layer 13 covering both of the two sides of the foam layer 11. The fabric layer 13 has patterns 135 on the surface of the fabric layer 13. The patterns 135 may be printed on the fabric layer 13 to decorate the fabric layer 13 by screen printing, heat transfer, etc. The groin guard will be pretty and colorful to appeal to consumers.

With such arrangements, the groin guard in accordance with the present invention has the rigid cover 20 as a shield to protect the groin region of the human body from direct impact by objects and the cushion cup 10 being soft and cushioning to enhance the wearing comfort. The foam layer 11 of the cushion cup 10 is vibration absorptive to enhance the impact resistance and protection. The rigid cover 20 is combined with the convex surface 102 of the cushion cup 10 via plastic material directly injected onto the convex surface 102 to produce the groin guard having an appealing appearance. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A groin guard comprising: a cushion cup having a concave surface; a convex surface; and a foam layer being a block integrally formed by a foaming material and having two sides formed respectively as the concave surface and the convex surface of the cushion cup; and a rigid cover integrally combined with the convex surface of the cushion cup via an injection process, wherein a hardness of the rigid cover is higher than a hardness of the cushion cup.
 2. The groin guard as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cushion cup has a fabric layer covering one of the two sides of the foam layer.
 3. The groin guard as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cushion cup has a fabric layer covering both of the two sides of the foam layer.
 4. The groin guard as claimed in claim 1, wherein a surface area of the rigid cover is less than a surface area of the convex surface of the cushion cup.
 5. The groin guard as claimed in claim 2, wherein a surface area of the rigid cover is less than a surface area of the convex surface of the cushion cup.
 6. The groin guard as claimed in claim 3, wherein a surface area of the rigid cover is less than a surface area of the convex surface of the cushion cup.
 7. The groin guard as claimed in claim 4, wherein the cushion cup has multiple embossed blocks formed on the convex surface of the cushion cup and arranged at spaced intervals.
 8. The groin guard as claimed in claim 5, wherein the cushion cup has multiple embossed blocks formed on the convex surface of the cushion cup and arranged at spaced intervals.
 9. The groin guard as claimed in claim 6, wherein the cushion cup has multiple embossed blocks formed on the convex surface of the cushion cup and arranged at spaced intervals.
 10. The groin guard as claimed in claim 2, wherein the fabric layer of the cushion cup has patterns.
 11. The groin guard as claimed in claim 3, wherein the fabric layer of the cushion cup has patterns.
 12. The groin guard as claimed in claim 10, wherein a surface area of the rigid cover is less than a surface area of the convex surface of the cushion cup.
 13. The groin guard as claimed in claim 11, wherein a surface area of the rigid cover is less than a surface area of the convex surface of the cushion cup.
 14. The groin guard as claimed in claim 12, wherein the cushion cup has multiple embossed blocks formed on the convex surface of the cushion cup and arranged at spaced intervals.
 15. The groin guard as claimed in claim 13, wherein the cushion cup has multiple embossed blocks formed on the convex surface of the cushion cup and arranged at spaced intervals.
 16. The groin guard as claimed in claim 14, wherein a surface area of the rigid cover is less than a surface area of the convex surface of the cushion cup.
 17. The groin guard as claimed in claim 15, wherein a surface area of the rigid cover is less than a surface area of the convex surface of the cushion cup. 